Warren Buffett is resigning as a trustee from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The announcement comes weeks after Bill and Melinda Gates announced that they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage but would continue to jointly run the foundation, one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. Gates was formerly the world’s richest person and his fortune is estimated at well over $100 billion.
“For years I have been a trustee – an inactive trustee at that – of only one recipient of my funds, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I am now resigning from that post, just as I have done at all corporate boards other than Berkshire’s,” Buffett said in a prepared statement Wednesday, AP reported
And Buffett, now 90, has begun stepping away from his leadership role at Berkshire Hathaway, as well as positions on other corporate boards.
“My goals are 100% in sync with those of the foundation,” Buffett said.
The statement also said that Buffett has so far given away half of his Berkshire Hathaway shares to charity—Buffett aims to give away all his Berkshire Hathaway shares.
Over the last 15 years, Buffett has given $27 billion of his own money to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Last month, Mark Suzman, the foundation's chief executive officer announced that he's in talks to strengthen “the long-term sustainability and stability of the foundation”. He also said that no decisions have been made and added that Bill and Melinda have “reaffirmed their commitment to the foundation and continue to work together on behalf of our mission”.
Buffett’s statement indicated support for Suzman. He, “is an outstanding recent selection who has my full support,” it said.
Gates’ and Buffett’s partnership is far from over. The billionaire friends on June 3 announced that their power companies-- TerraPower and PacifiCorp will launch the first Natrium nuclear reactor project on the site of a retiring coal plant in Wyoming.
Buffett, who has been recently criticised for paying little in taxes said, “That's because I have relatively little income,” adding, “My wealth remains almost entirely deployed in tax-paying businesses that I own through my Berkshire stock holdings, and Berkshire regularly reinvests earnings to further grow its output, employment and earnings. The income I receive from other assets allows me to live as I wish”. Buffet, in the statement, also said that these announcements, in no way indicated that he was retiring and that he still relishes being on the field.
